The passion

"Bringing a respectable woman home, finally?" He chortled.
"Something like that", The corner of my mouth tugged up into a smirk. My uncle might not recognize Rhes right away when he sees her again, but I had a feeling my aunt would with as much as she loved the ballet.

I knew I didn't have to worry about my uncle bringing up the first night I paid for Rhea with his wife around. If he did try to bring it up later, I would deal with it then. The thought of impressing my aunt with the city's Prima on my arm far outweighed anything snarky my uncle could say next week.

"As long as she can handle Annika, she's welcome", Nikolai shrugged.
"You think this one will be around long enough to accompany you to the Gala? If the gold diggers in this city see you there alone, they'll be on you like flies. Especially after that damn magazine came out."

I will have Rhea for three months. She certainly would be on my arm for the Gala. "I like to think she'll stick with me for that long", l responded to him.

"Good, every where is this city will try to get a ring from you if they can. You're on your way to joining the billionaire list with me, boy. Watch your back for women who only want you for the money." It wasn't the first time he had given this warning, and I knew it wouldn't be the last.

"I know that. I'm not an idiot."

"You're not. I wouldn't trust you with my company if you were. It's a good thing you didn't come out with your father's head on your shoulders." His voice got low, barely audible as he sighed, "He should have left Russia with me when he still had the chance."

"He should have, but here we are." I needed to change the subject. "The day's basically over. Are you going to leave the office early?"

"Oh, absolutely. I'm taking your aunt to an exhibit tonight. I just wanted to talk to you before I left. What about you? If you have a new girl, are you leaving to go to her?"

I blew out a breath and ran a hand through my hair. "As much as I'd like to I can't. There are some documents I need to finish going over before they go out to the design team. Plus, my new girl is also at work."

"Hearing that she has a job makes me already like her." He laughed.
"But just don't stay too late. I know you forget to look at the time when you get busy."
"Alright. Now get out of here before Tetya starts calling me to find you," I muttered, shoving his shoulder.

"Fair enough. See you on Sunday night, Aleksander!" I didn't turn to watch as he left, just kept my eyes on the city line on the horizon. Horns honked and pigeons cooed. I had another smoke before going back inside.

By the time I got back to my desk, half the building had cleared out to leave for the day. Through the windows, the sun began to set as I let my mind slip into the monotony of work as the time passed.

My uncle's advice stayed with me. He was correct that people would be interested in me for my money, that was common. And I suppose in some way that Rhea might fall under that umbrella. Although she didn't seem as though she wanted to be doing these contracts at all.

I didn't think of her as a gold digger like Nikolai might. Despite not knowing Rhea's story, I had a feeling she was with me out of necessity. She genuinely wanted to be a dancer. You could tell when she was on stage that was what she was truly meant to do.

And I knew without a doubt that Rhea wanted me outside of the contract. When we were intimate, she reciprocated the passion I showed her. She was a flower slowly blooming each time I touched her.

My phone chimed, and I plucked it off the edge of my desk to see who was bothering me. Then my eyes widened as I read over the alert and noticed just how late it had gotten as I worked.

Rhea's rushed test from this morning came back clean, and at this time of night her performance might already be over.

"Shit," i hissed out, rushing up from my desk as a wave of energy swept through me. After shutting everything down, I grabbed my briefcase and called Antonio to pick me up. When I got everything together, I was jittery riding the elevator down. I almost burst through the front lobby when I saw the black car waiting outside.

"Good evening, Mr Makalov." He greeted me cheerfully.
"Yeah, yeah. How are you, Antonio?" I slid into the back seat and slammed the door a bit hard in my rush.

"Just fine, Sir, just fine." He smiled and pulled us into the slow moving traffic. After a few minutes not talking, he finally spoke again. "Ms. Martinez doesn't really seem to want the rides, Mr Makalov."
"What do you mean?" My beating heart finally seemed ready to slow down as I listened to him talk about Rhea.

"Well, I was there to take her to the clinic like you asked, but she wanted to walk on her own afterwards. I parked outside away down just in case she changed her mind after her appointment, but no she walked." He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel as we sat at a red light.

"It's not uncommon in the city. Maybe she enjoys it." I shrugged, not thinking much of it.
"I guess, but she went to the hospital right down the street after." His words made me go cold. "I don't want to overstep by asking if she's okay, but is she alright, sir?"

"Ofcourse, Antonio. Thanks for looking out",The smile on my face was forced, but seeing it in the rearview mirror allowed Antonio to relax back into the seat with a relived expression.